Chunky footwear is in but the socks and sandals combos at Preen and Christopher Kane SS17 will only take you so far before winter proper starts to seep in. I like brogues, transitional footwear which tap into the binary trends of boy chic and sexy secretary.

Here’s some history, from new find catwalkyourself.com: ‘A brogue is a type of shoe made together with multiple pattern pieces of sturdy leathers. The brogue was introduced in the 1800’s and traditionally made for men; the shoes usually had decorative punch holes along the seams of the pattern which is known as brogueing, which was done originally for Irish and Scottish farm workers to allow water to drain out of the shoes when working.’

And you thought the holes were just decorative. For ways to wear, take inspiration from this 2014 image of style.com’s new fashion director Yasmin Sewell, who combines clean lines and modernist jewellery with stacked monochromes. Model Liu Wen’s metallic shoes look sweet with skinny jeans and cardigan. Victoria Beckham, Christy Turlington and Alexa Chung? Brogues lend an sharpness to their casual looks that trainers just wouldn’t.

Here are 14 favourite styles – but there are lots more. I include Grenson’s Emily style because I’ve worn them consistently over the past four years and always get compliments. Tod’s tassled brogues combine references; Rochas’ clunky pink shoes probably look better on.

Carvela offers a high street retort to Stella McCartney’s towering flatforms; Burberry’s studded editions have more than a hint of Pearly kings and queens, a summary of the label’s current brand of punkish traditionalism. I’m starting to think that every wardrobe needs a pair of metallic brogues: Simone Rocha and MM6 Martin Margiela answer the call.

About the AuthorBel

Bel Jacobs is a freelance fashion and arts journalist with her own successful blog beljacobs.com. Between 1999 and 2013, she was Style Editor for Metro during which time she helped build the paper’s fashion content, interviewing key figures such as Karl Lagerfeld, Rita Ora, Christian Louboutin, Vivienne Westwood, Philip Treacy, Isabella Blow and Valentino Garavani. In July 2013, at the inaugural Fashion Monitor journalism awards, she was nominated as Fashion Journalist of the Year (Short Lead), for which she was ‘highly commended’. She has been a judge for Fashion Fringe (2011) and the UK Fashion and Textile Awards (2015). She has also hosted panel discussions for Soho Create and Decoded Fashion and written for the British Fashion Council. She is a regular panellist at Nick Knight’s seminal new media site ShowStudio.